Financial Transparency

The City of Lafayette is committed to honest budgeting, responsible spending and financial transparency.

In this spirit, the City of Lafayette has partnered with OpenGov to provide residents and stakeholders with the Financial Transparency Portal. The portal is designed to bring visibility, openness, and accountability to our operations.

This site provides you the opportunity to view, filter and analyze revenue, expense and balance sheet financial data for Lafayette. You can even download the data (i.e. in Excel) for offline analysis.

Quick Look

(*Note that graph icons are illustrative and may not match actual views)

Q:What is OpenGov?

OpenGov is a financial transparency website which displays government finances over a multi-year period. The default view usually displays expenses broken down by department.

Q:How do I select the data I want to see?

A:

To focus on specific data – like a fund, department, expense type, or any combination – use the menu on the left side panel. The “By” drop-down allows you to specify which breakdown you want the graphs and table rows to represent on the graph. You can analyze the expense and revenues data by fund, department, or type.

Q:How do I see the actual numbers within the graph?

A:

Hover over any area of the graph to see the actual or budgeted amounts for that period. Or, just scroll down to see a table with detailed information.

Q:Can I select options other than funds or departments?

A:

Yes. Use the Data Filter on the left side panel to make specific selections within the data. The Data Filter shows you the hierarchical relationships of Funds, Departments, and Account Types. You’ll notice the title of the graph you are viewing on top along with the account type selector. You can use the filter to see the data of most interest to you.

Q:Can I see the data in a different graph?

A:

In the upper right-hand corner, you will see options for the different graphs and tables. There are five graph types overall; an area graph, an area graph by percentage, a line graph, a pie graph, and a bar chart. There is also always a table view below any chart or graph. The table allows you to zoom-in on the detailed financial data selected in the chart or graph above.

Q:Why are there sometimes spikes in one year?

A:

In reviewing multiple years of data, you may see “spikes” in the individual years; this can be due to unexpected expenses, such as a hard winter, equipment failure, a capital project, or a specific event that required additional funds. You can drill-down into our OpenGov site to learn more about what exactly those expense or revenues are.

Q:Can I save the data I am looking at in OpenGov?

A:

Yes, there are Share and Download buttons in the upper right corner. You can share any view on a social network or by email. There are also options to download the displayed data in .csv spreadsheet and .png image formats.

Q:Is government accounting different from other accounting? How do I learn more?

A:

Use the Help menu on the top right corner to navigate to the “Budget 101” primer to learn more about multi-fund accounting.

Q:How do I contact the someone if I have questions about Open Gov?

A:

Use the Help menu on the top right corner to navigate to the “Contact” option to send your message to your organization.